Automatic windshield cleaner



Jail, 6. 1925.

A. B. THoMPsoN AUTOMATIC VVINDSHIELD CLEANER original Filed June 1921 Patented aan. e, 1925..

' UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE.

ARTHUR B. THOMPSON, OF MISSOULA, MONTANA, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN R. OISHEL, OF

- BUFFALO, N. Y.

AUTOMATIC W'INDSHIELD CLEANER.

Original application led .Tune 8, k1921, Serial No. 476,089. Divided and this application filed January 29,

1923. Serial No. 615,548.

Y 0 all whom t may concern."

Be it known that I, ARTHUR B. THoMrsoN a citizen of the United States, residing at Missoula, in the county of .Missoula and State of Montana, have invented a new and useful liriprovement' in Automatic lVindshield Cleaners, of which the following is a specification. Y

This invention relates to automatic windshield cleaners, and is a division of my application iiled'June 8, 1921, Serial YumberI 476,089, in which is claimed the motor herein referred to, the same not being claimed per se in this application. .a

The objects of the invention are to provide a cleaner which is automatically operated by a source of power normally available in .an automobile or other vehicle; also to providean automatic cleaner which may eifectively operate upon a relatively small amount of power; and to provide improvements in windshield cleaners in the other respects hereinafter set forth and claimed.

ln the accompanying drawings I have shown my invention in the form which is now preferred by me.

Figure 1 is a section through a windshield and portions of the operating mechanism of my wiper.

`Figure 2 is a similar section through the operating mechanism, showing parts in the reversed position from that s hown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken at right angles to Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an elevation of the control mechanism with a cover plate removed.

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 1, illustrating a modification.

A casing or housing 1, of generally semicircular outline', is provided with a tightlyfitting cover 10. A piston vane 2,- which may be provided with flexible packing. cups 20 upon opposite sides, is oscillable'within the casing 1. Then installed on an' automobile,

the power available for operation of the device varies with the speed of the engine and the piston displacement and is ofttimes very small. Therefore, to operate efficiently the windshield cleaner should be-constructed to operate on relatively low pressures. To this en d, the piston of the cleaner of the present invention is of the swinging vane type and is preferably directly connected to the rock shaft for operatingthe wiper. ln the embodiment shown, the vane 2 is shown as projecting from a ystub shaft 21, a reduced portion 22 of which projects from the casing. A reduced portion 23 may also project from the opposite end of the casing. The portion -22 is provided with means for the attachment of a wiper 3 of any suitable form to move the same,` shown herein as having a wiper carrying or moving arm 30, the end of which passes through a suitable hole in the portion 22 and which yis secured therein by means of a set screw 24. The wiper moving arm moves the wiper on the windshield glass` as the piston vane is oscillated. The projecting portion 23 of the shaft 21 may have a handle 25 secured therein for hand operation of the wiper when this is-desired. lit will be seen that the piston 2 is or may be directly connected to the wiper moving arm which oscillates exactly as does the piston 2.

Oscillation of the piston 2 may be accomplished in any suitable manner. l prefer that this be accomplished by means of suction, that is to say atmospheric fluid pressure operating on one side of the piston having a partial vacuum produced by said suction on its other side, and' have shown a conduit 15 connecting an orifice 14 of the casing 1 with a suitable suction inducing means. This might conveniently be the suction of the engine itself, in an automobile, and the conduit 15 might then be connected conveniently to the intake manifold of the engine (not shown) or to any point in the suction line between the vehicle engine and its fuel supply. For use upon street cars, where compressed `air is available, the type shown in .Figure 5 may be used.

Suitable means are provided for controlling the a plication of thesuction first to yone side o the piston 2 and then to its other side. I have shown the cover plate 10 asprovided r`with a port 11 at each side of the piston which, when the cover is in place, is registerable with a port 12 having a laterally extending branch 13 extending to the outside of the casing. a suction orifice or passage 14 in the casing wall, and the passage 14 has a pair of later- .valve is properly positioned, to connect the The conduit 15 is connected to to oscillate it.

passages`13 and 16. In one position ofthe valve these passages are connected but in the other position of the valve the passage 13 is open to the atmosphere but the passage 16 is closed 0E entirely. By reciprocating these valves alternately, one end of the casing 1 is connected to a suction inducing means while the other is connected to the atmosphere.

At their lower ends the valves 4 are provided with transverse=slots 40. A lever 5, pivoted at 50 between its ends 54, hasthese ends engageable in the slots of the valves 4. Tilting ofthe lever 5, therefore, causes `the alternate and opposite actuation of the valves 4 to reverse the piston travel, -as described above. As "a means for tilting the lever 5, -I have shown an arm 6 which mayA be pivoted coaxially Withbut which is independent of the shaft 21. I have shown the varm 6 as loosely'l mounted upon the reduced -portion 23 of the shaft. Pins 26 secured in the shaft 21 are engageable with the arms 6 Preferably the engagement of the pins26 with the arm 6 is through the medium of a spring 62. The object of this spring is to cause the arm G to move positively and rapidly across the point where it is in alinement with the pivot 50 of the tiltable lever to the end that the lever will notbe hung on dead-center and so cause faulty operation of the valves. The armv 6'may have at its outer end, interposed between e itself and the lever 5, a spring-pressed ball 65, whereby it is in continuous yielding en:

gagement at all times with the lever 5.

When the conduit 15 is connected to the suction inducing means the suction is coml munlcated to the interior of the casing upon one side of the piston 2 through the passages 14, 16, 41, 13, 12 and 11. A set screw 19 in the passage 14 controls the strength of the suction. The piston moves toward thi'sside of the casing, air being admitted behind it through the passages 13, 12 and 11, of the opposite side, this passage 13 being not covered by its valve 4. .The pins 26 moving with the piston will, near the end of the piston stroke, actuate the arm 6 to move it across the pivot of thetiltable lever 5. This actioncauses the lever 5 to tilt an'd reverses the position of the valves 4. This connects the suction inducing means through duplicates of the passages described above with the casing upon the opposite side of the piston 2 and connects with the atmosphere that*` side of the casing which was formerly in connection with the suction inducing means. The piston then swings in the reverse direction until the position of the valves is again reversed in the same v by compressed air, s' upon a street car. The

passage 1 4 is on cted to a source of air nects through ports 12 and` 11 to the interior of thev casing 1, is never open'directly to the atmosphere, but isalways connected with the passage 41 of the valve 4. A11- extra port 18, lea-ding tethe atmosphere, is so positioned that when the valve is ralsed -as shown in dotted lines, it' communicates lwith the valve passage 41, and, through the port 13', with the interior of the caslngto exhaust the pressure therein. When the valve is lowered as shown in full lines exhaust from the casing is cut 0E, and air under pressure is supplied thereto. Thus the piston vane 2.is actuated lby air4 under' pressure. yThe words oscillate, oscillating, andy oscillate'd are herein used to describe a swinging or vane-like movement.

Iclaim as my invention:

1. In a windshield cleaner, the combinai under pressures' The port 13', which conshaft to operate on a common pivotal axis, and a housing for'said operating member having'parts for attachment to a windshield f frame, said housing havingA an external surface of arcuate outline substantially concentric with the arcs inscribed by said wiper and said operating member in their swinging movements.

3. In a windshield cleaner, the'combinal. tion of a windshield-glass wiper adapted to be oscillat'ed on a face of a windshield 'glass to clean the same, a rock shaft' rigid with said w\iper and extending angularly therefrom, a fluid-pressure-actuated operating member directly connected to said shaft, and means for applying fluid pressure directly 'to said operating member to causcsaid member to swing to oscillate said wiper.

4. In a cleaner for windshields and the like, the combination of a fluid-lnessureactuated operating member and af wiper member directly connected to swingr upon u a common pivotal axis, means for 1ummting said members on a windshield and for (applying fluid pressure directly to said swinging operating member. l.

5. In a windshield cleaner having means for applying fluidpressure and valve mechanism including a valve actuating 'device for controlling said fluid pressure, the com-l bination of a rock shaft, an oscillating wind Shield wiping member, and a swinging -iuid.

' mechanism therefor,

pressure-actuated operating member, saidfthe combination 4with a housing having of arock shaft journalled a Wiper-carrying arm seshaft, an oscillatory piston Arigid with said shaft and dispiston chamber, 1n said housing,

posed within said chamber, said Wiper arm,l

shaft and piston oscillating simultaneously in the same directions. and through equal angles, and means for applying fluid pressure directly to said piston to oscillate said piston and the shaft and Wiper arm.

7. ln an .attachable Windshield cleaner, the combination with a housing having a piston chamber'and inlet and outletyalve lof'a rock shaft journailed in said housing, a Wiper-carrying arm rigid With said shaft, an oscillatory, di-

-rect fluid-actuated piston rigid with said shaft and located Within said chamber, and valve mechanism actuatingl means rigid With said shaft, said means, piston shaft an'd Wiper-carrying arm oscillating simultaneously in 'the same .directions and through equal angles. y

8; In a windshield cleaner of the character described, the combination of a housing having a piston chamber, of a combinedl rigidly associated piston and Wiper-carrymg arm attachab'le and removable from said 'housing as a single unitpmeans for rotatabl'v mounting said unit with the pistonA thereof Within said chamber, and means vfor applying ton to .actuate said piston andthe Wiper carrying arm as a unit. 4

9. In a Windshield cleaner of the characer described, the combination With a housing having a journal bearing and a sector- 'shaped piston chamber concentric with the axis of said journal bearing, of an oscillating piston Wihin said chamber arranged to oscillateabout said axis, means for applying` Huid'pressure directly to said'piston to oscillatc it` and a wiper-carrying arm disposed outside of sai'd housing,` said Wipercarrylug arm being rigid with said piston lo oscillate about said axis in unison withl .said piston. y A

10. ln a windshield cleaner operable on loi'v vacuum pressures a's obtained by utilizing suc-tion' from a suction passagebetween a vehicle engine andthe fuel supply therefor. the combination With a housing having a 'piston chamber lhaving, an orifice for conuid pressure vdirectly to said pis- I relatively' lowlshaft directly connect-ed to said p iston,

a part onsaid rock shaft osclllatmg simulsaid vane piston and said -nection to such suction passage, of a rock shaft journalle'd in said housing, an oscillatory piston on said rockshaft and disposed Within said chamber, a Wiper vmember operatively connected to said shaft and adapted to be moved on the Windshield glass by said shaft,- means for automatically placing saidjsuction passage alternately in communication with opposite `sides of said piston chamber and for alternately admitting atmospheric air directly to the sides of said piston .to oscillate said piston by the difference in pressure between the ypressures in the connection to said suction passage and atmospheric pressure.A

l1. In a windshield cleaner for use on a windshield having a glass and operable on relatively low vacuum pressures as obtained by utilizing suction from a suction passage between a vehicle engine and the fuel sup- -ply therefor, thel combination ofl a housing havmg means for mounting the same ad]a shaft and in a plane at substantially right angles to said shaft, means for automaticall v placing said suction passage alternately in communication with opposite sides of said piston chamber and for alternately admitting atmospheric air directly to opposite sides of said'piston to swing said pistonby the difference in pressure between the pressures'in the connection to said suction y passage and atmospheric pressure.

12. In a windshield cleaner operable on pressures as utilizing suction from a suction passage between a vehicle engine and the fuel supply for the engine, the combination of a housing having a piston chamber, a swinging vane piston in said chamber adapted tojrf ceive direct applications of fluid under 'pressure, a Wiper strip adapted to be moved on a windshield glass to clean vthe same, a rock and taneously, with U rock shaft for actuating said Wiper strip.

ARTHUR QB. THOMPSON.

obtained by Certifate' of -Cor'rectionz` Y It is hereby 'Yeertifl'ed that the "name of the assgnelirgjetters Ptent-No. 1,522,344, lgranted' January, '1925, upon the appliatlon pf Arthur B. Thompsonlf- .i

of'Missoula, Montana., V'for an improvement in Automatic Windshield Cleaners, Was erroneously Writtenfand printed s''John R.Oshe1`whereas said name should have been Written andprinted Jaim- R, Oz's'he,- as'hown by the records 'of assgnnientsv in this oi; and that the said Letters Pat'e'nt should be read with -correction therein the Patent Office.. A

that the sztme may conform to the reeord of the casen 

